Busy 'Cinderella' cast brings new life to old classic

The cast of Harris-Lake Park High School's upcoming production of "Cinderella" has had to balance their visits to the enchanted kingdoms of other fall extracurriculars, including volleyball and football, to bring the production to life.

For senior Jordan Heikens, who plays Cinderella, part of the excitement of the production is being able to see the active faces of the cast on the playbill.

"A lot of the kids in it are involved in a lot of other things," Heikens said. "It's just watching a lot of kids that people saw grow up in the community that are involved in everything."

Kathy Greve, vocal director at H-LP, knows cast members had to make a commitment to fit the production into their already-busy extracurricular groupings.

"Scheduling is always an issue," Greve said. "We're a small school and so whether its juniors or seniors or whoever, we always have students who are involved in a lot of other activities. You have to share the kids because everyone needs them...there's a million other things that they're involved in, too."

When it came to choosing the fall musical, Greve knew just which creative geniuses to turn to.

"I think Roger's and Hammerstein's music is just so fun and memorable and singable and there's just so many memorable lines," Greve said.

Greve notes that she chose the production because she wanted the chance to bring to life an often overlooked masterpiece from the Rogers and Hammerstein collection.

"We all know the sound of music and we know Oklahoma and all of Roger's and Hammerstein's other big ones, but 'Cinderella' gets overlooked sometimes as one of their major musicals," Greve said. "It shouldn't because its got all of that wonderful music that you love from all of those other musicals that they've done."

Senior Shelby Peters, who plays ugly stepsister "Portia" in the production, knows the community will be enthusiastic about the cast's spin on the familiar fairytale.

"Everybody knows the story," Peters said. "This gives us the chance to give our example of it on stage."

For Heikens, the production choice was a childhood dream come true.

"Its every little girl's dream to be Cinderella," she said. "I have a big, beautiful wedding dress that we borrowed from one of my mom's friends. It's gorgeous."

The cast is also able to add their own touches to the production to add strokes of originality.

"For one, the stepsisters are cute," Peters notes.

Greve hopes the audience can come away from "Cinderella" with the same enthusiasm the cast exhibits.

"Hopefully they'll go away feeling that its been a fun, family show," Greve said. "The assistant director has worked really hard on the set. We've worked really hard to find costumes that are visibly pleasing so that people will see a show that is fun to watch and just feel like its been a good way to spend their evening."

"Cinderella" takes place at 7 p.m. Nov. 13 and 14 at the H-LP High School auditorium. All tickets are $6.

H-LP presents Cinderella

7 p.m. Nov. 13 and 14

H-LP High School auditorium.

Tickets: $6, available at the door

'Cinderella' cast

Cinderella - Jordan Heikens

Prince Charming - Lee Vellema

King - Marcus Robinson

Queen - Sheyanne Weltzin

Stepmother - Samantha Brueggeman

Portia (Stepsister) - Shelby Peters

Joy (Stepsister) - Kelsey Christoffer

Godmother - Ashley Reimers

Herald - Rachel Vellema

Stewards - Ty Ahrenstorff, Austin Jacobsen